Fruit branch pruning is still done manually, resulting in high labor costs, ergonomic hazards, and low efficiency and productivity. Furthermore, there are some limitations with imported agricultural machines because of their high prices and inappropriate local conditions. Hence, the present study aims to manufacture a local device for fruit branch pruning based on validating the correct stem-cutting position using a branch guide. The manufactured device comprises a 60 W electric motor, a formed base, a teethed pruning disc, a telescopic tube made up of the picker-cutting mechanism of the device, and a 12–Volt rechargeable dry battery. The device was made from local and light materials to allow a telescopic tube to reach the high position of the citrus fruit branches and consider ergonomic aspects. Field trials were executed on sour oranges trees to assess the pruning device’s performance as a function of change in cutting disc speeds (9.81, 13.74, 17.66, and 21.59 m/s), cutting disc teeth numbers (60, 80, and 100 teeth), different groups of branches diameters {A (from 5 mm to less than 10 mm), B (10 mm to less than 20 mm), C (from 20 mm to less than 30 mm) and D (from 30 mm to less than 40 mm)}. The manufactured device was assessed in terms of device productivity, pruning efficiency, pruning damage, power requirements, specific energy, and operating cost. The results indicated that the highest device productivity and pruning efficiency were 780, 218, 100 and 65 branch/h; and 96.0, 94.0, 92.0 and 90.5%, while the lowest pruning branch damage were 4.0, 6.0, 8.0 and 9.5%, specific energy were 0.0447, 0.1645, 0.4050 and 0.700 Wh per branch, for the groups of branches diameters A, B, C, and D respectively. The current investigation recommended that the optimal operational conditions were using the manufactured device for pruning citrus trees at 17.66 m/s pruning disc speed with a pruning disc teeth number of 60 teeth.

The aim of this study is to develop, construct and evaluate a local plasticmulching machine ( mulcher ) to prove beneficial for crop growth by modifying soil temperature, reduction in evaporation, weed competition, soil compaction and erosion. The developed mulcher consists of the main chassis of 1.0 x 1.30 m made of steel with three hitch-points. A furrow opener, warped steel tube for warping a plastic sheet, two adjustable wheels and a compressing wheel with manure hopper were mounted and fixed on the main chassis. Forward speed of 2.4 km/h and tilt angle of 450 with wheel adjusting depth of 20 cm showed the optimum results under different treatments which can be summarized in the following points: 1-Soil covering depth (ridge height, cm) for subsurface mulch was 29 cm. 2-Tractor wheel slip of 5.1 and 3.2 % for subsurface and surface mulch, respectively. 3-Fuel consumptions were 5.1 l/h, for subsurface mulch and 4.60 l/h, for the surface mulch under the same conditions. 4-Covering width for surface mulch was 21 cm for both sides of the plastic sheet. 5-Uniformity covering efficiency was 98 % for subsurface mulch and 92 % for surface mulch. 6-Power requirements and energy were 14.11 kW, 24.75 kiwi. h/fed., and 12.73 kiwi. and 21.70 kiwi. h/fed., respectively for subsurface and surface mulching. 7-Total costs decreased totally by 80.4% when applying the new mulcher.INTRODUCTION ecause of the rapidly increasing population in Egypt and the urgent need to increase farmland reclamation and cultivation of new lands with raising the efficiency of farming lands of old in terms of providing and rationalizing the consumption of water by using pressurized modern * Researcher in Agric. Eng. Res. Inst., Giza, Egypt.

Until now, the traditional method for planting pea seeds in Egypt is manual because of the scarcity of planting machines. Therefore, this study aims to provide and evaluate a new seed drill for planting pea seeds on a raised bed in silt-clay loam soil. This seed drill consists of the frame, seeds hopper, seed metering device, transmission system, and covering unit. Laboratory tests on pea seeds were conducted to determine the seeds’ physical and mechanical properties. Field trials were carried out under the following parameters; four forward speeds (‎‎0.79, 0.98, 1.28, and 1.64 m s–1), ‎three disc cell capacities (1, 2, and ‎‎3 seeds per cell), two different cells shapes (circular, and a rectangle with semicircle end), and three distances between rows (‎7.5, 10, and 15 cm) to assess the performance of the seed drill on fuel consumption, specific energy, slip ratio, seeds damaged‎, germination ratio, plants number per hill, longitudinal scattering, and pea pods yield. The results revealed that the optimum performance of the seed drill was achieved at a forward speed ranging from 0.79 to 0.98 m s–1, using a disc cell capacity of ‎‎2 seeds, a circular cell shape, and a distance between rows of 10 cm.

The current study aimed to test and evaluate sheets’ different perforation shapes, brake angles, and milling durations to improve the quality of long-grain white rice from an abrasive milling machine. The investigated parameters of head rice yield, broken rice percentage, whitening degree, and rice bulk temperature were influenced by five sheets with five perforated shapes (horizontal, vertical, inclined, 1 mm round holes, and 1.5 mm round holes), three brake angles (0, 45, and 90º), and four milling durations (60, 70, 80, and 90 s). The results showed that the horizontal rectangular perforated sheet resulted in the highest value of head rice yield and the lowest value of broken rice. On the other hand, the vertical rectangular perforated sheet resulted in the highest whitening degree, followed by the inclined rectangular perforated sheet. The round holes (1.0 mm and 1.5 mm diameter) are not recommended for the long-grain whitening process because of the resulting high values of broken kernels, rice bulk temperature after the whitening process, and lower values of whitening degree. The brake angle of 90º resulted in the highest value of broken rice for all studied perforated sheets used in this study. This study recommended that the optimum operating conditions were using the horizontal rectangular perforated sheet, zero degree brake angle and milling duration of 80 s.